The present disclosure is directed to a method for computer analysis, specifically a method for creating a timeline for a viewed video.
A video management system (VMS) usually shows the viewed video together with a timeline that represents motion, allowing quick access to segments of the video including motion. Many algorithms have been developed to create this timeline. Usually these algorithms will operate in the pixel domain which requires decompressing the video. To reduce the computation times, some algorithms operate in the compressed domain.
There are a number of methods that analyze the motion vectors of the compressed video. However, such methods can be slow and/or dependent on the video coder-decoder (codec) to utilize information in the compressed data. As a result, different codecs may require codec-specific algorithms. In addition, such methods may require significant processing equipment, time, and power for frame analysis. Codecs are improving in quality—compressing the most relevant information but at the cost of a higher complexity which requires more significant processing equipment. The resolution of the video is also constantly improving. Improving resolution from to 4K to 8K will also add to the processing time. Furthermore, newer video standards support a frame rate of 120, 240, or 300 frames per second. As a result, previous methods are not useable for rapid-paced or real-time applications, or applications analyzing high volumes of data from many simultaneous sources, data with different codec standards, or data with high compression or resolution values.
For example, a sports venue may have over 150 video cameras monitoring crowd and player safety over the six and a half hours for a major league baseball game, pre-game, and cleanup. Using conventional methods, analyzing the over 36 billion frames of footage that may be amassed would require an untenable amount of resources. Meaningful analysis results would be impossible in real time. Cameras installed at different times using different codecs would also require different programs for analysis.
There is an unmet need in the art for a method for rapidly generating an accurate, compression invariant video motion timeline.